


Love

by Cumquatmarmalade



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 01:58:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15523563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cumquatmarmalade/pseuds/Cumquatmarmalade
Summary: She loved him and he loved her. But it wasn’t that simple.





	Love

“She loved him and he loved her. But it wasn’t that simple.”

Five children gathered on the rug before the fireplace at the home of Dorothy Collins.

A storm had woken them and brought them at a run to her bedroom. Dot had never been one to turn away God’s creatures and so she had gathered them up, made cocoa and set them before the hearth in the parlour. She had then sat them down to tell the tale. The tale of Miss Phryne and the Inspector. They always enjoyed it.

“ _Why_ wasn’t it simple?” Ethel asked, her voice small and gentle.

“Well, Miss Phryne wasn’t sure at first. And neither was Inspector Robinson. Did I ever tell you that they first met in a bathroom?’

The children gasped and giggled.

“Miss Phryne had locked herself in the bathroom looking for clues in one of her mysteries, and the Inspector came knocking on the door. He always says it was _not_ love at first sight but Miss Phryne says he must have loved her from the start or he’d never have kept coming back for more. He then jokes that she was in his office almost every day so perhaps it was _she_ who fell for _him_ and simply couldn’t resist his charms.”

“So they fell in love,” Cody summarised with his usual economy of words. At twelve, he was the oldest of the group.

“Well,” Dot continued, “they _began_ to fall in love at the start- but it took some time for them to admit it to each other.”

“How much time?” Elizabeth (known affectionately as Beth) asked.

“It took a while.” Dot smiled, remembering moments where she had interrupted Phryne and Jack as they had enjoyed a post-case cocktail or two. She recalled finding the Inspector stroking his long fingers down her mistress’ neck and how it had made her heart swell to think that perhaps romance was blossoming. And there had been one occasion where she had observed and not interrupted, where the inspector had held Miss Phryne very tightly and kissed her like one of those silent movie stars.

She shook herself and returned to the present.

“They fought sometimes you know,” she went on.

“Really?” Beth asked, her eyes wide.

“There was one time when the Inspector thought Miss Phryne had been killed in an automobile accident and it tore them apart for a time. But they worked it out and after that, the Inspector began to let Miss Fisher know of his intentions towards her.”

“How’d he do that?” Benjamin asked.

“It was small things at first,” Dot said, with a wistful sigh. “He gave her trinkets and tokens of affection. He planned outings he knew she would enjoy and he passed by the house far more often than he used to. And then he waltzed with her. She wasn’t the same for days after.”

“A dance?” Abbie asked. She was the littlest of them all at just five.

“No harm in a dance,” Dot replied, but she recalled Phryne’s smile after that day. How her father had frayed her last nerve but how Jack had somehow brought her back to the present and had romanced her so wholeheartedly that her smile and wide, loving eyes had returned and focused solely on him.

“And then they parted because Miss Phryne had to go back to England.”

Dot grew wistful, her mind wandering into the past. Her marriage to Hugh and then Phryne’s departure. It had all happened in such a rush. She had missed her friend so very much in those first few months of marriage. She had needed Phryne’s counsel and had longed for the adventure of being in Phryne’s orbit.

“But the Inspector went after her, didn’t he?” Cody asked.

“This is where the romance really begins,” Dot said. “The Inspector boarded a boat and met up with Miss Phryne in Marrakesh. I _may_ have gone along too,”-

“Mumma! You haven’t told us _that_ story!” Elizabeth shrieked.

“Well it’s a story for another day then,” Dot smiled.

Thunder shook the house and the children all shuddered and startled a little. All but Abbie. She was made of tough stuff.

“What happened when Inspector Jack followed?” Benjamin asked.

“Well, Miss Phryne had asked him to come after her and for Miss Phryne that was practically saying ‘I love you’- I’m not sure the Inspector understood that entirely at the time, but he followed because he loved her so much, he couldn’t stand the idea of them being separated by distance. He had to see whether she loved him as much as he loved her.”

Abbie snuggled into Dot’s side. This was her favourite part of the story.

“Miss Phryne was so happy to see the Inspector that she just jumped right into his arms. And that’s when he knew. He knew that nothing in the world mattered as much as her and him – them together. And that’s what he told her.”

“I bet they kissed,” Cody said, with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m sure they did,” she replied. “And that’s when I knew it was time to come home.”

Dot smiled, remembering postcards from destinations all over the globe. Paris and Rome and Russia.

After she left them to their adventures and came home, she had found her own restlessness was gone and she was ready to make a life with Hugh. The children had followed soon enough.

She looked up to see two photographs on her side table. One was of her and Hugh on their wedding day. The other of Phryne and Jack standing before the Great Pyramid of Giza.

“The next two years were perfect and idyllic for them both. They grew together and loved well and often. It was when they got back to Melbourne that things became difficult. Miss Phryne just wasn’t the marrying kind and the Inspector needed a degree of respectability for his work. It almost ruined them. You see sometimes it isn’t enough to just love someone…”

She heard the key turn in the lock and jumped up as Hugh walked through the door.

“Hugh!” He looked tired and drawn. There had been a raid tonight and Dot knew from his quiet arrival, that it had been a bad one.

“Dottie,” he said, “I see the children are up.”

“They were frightened of the storm.” She stood on tip toes and kissed his cheek, whispering, “Was everything alright?”

He turned to her and whispered back, “Two policemen injured but we got them Dottie.”

“Was?”-

“No, no they’re fine.”

A stamping of feet against the cold and rain distracted them and in trudged two very tired detectives.”

“Mumma!” Abbie leapt to her feet and rushed into the arms of Phryne Fisher. Phryne smiled gently down at her, crouched and placed a kiss in her long, black hair.

“Hello my darling,” she whispered.

“The storm woke them all Miss Phryne,” Dot told her.

“And it’s past time our little ones should be in bed. Come on you lot,” Hugh said, and four very tired children trudged up the stairs after him.

“It was a big night Dot,” Phryne said.

Dot watched as Jack slipped his hand in hers and squeezed.

“Things got a little close,” he told Dot. “But we’re fine now.”

Abbie tugged on his trousers and Jack scooped her up into his arms. She lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

“Daddy’s girl looks ready to head home,” Phryne told Dot. “Thank you for looking after her.”

“Anytime Miss. You know I love her as if she were one of my own.”

Phryne stroked the hair of the little girl already fast asleep and cradled in Jack’s arms. “We were lucky to find her. That orphanage was a terrible place and no child should ever have had to suffer the way she did. She was just a baby, and when I think of how she was treated I,”-

“You _saved_ her Miss Phryne. Just like you saved me. And just like you saved Jane.” Dot said.

Phryne smiled at the sleeping child and then looked at Jack. “She saved us too in a way,” she said.

Jack whispered. “When we got back from Western Australia, it was an easy story to say we’d eloped. Once the paperwork was completed and with Phryne agreeing to maintain the story by withdrawing from society for a while, it was easy to explain that she was in the family way. By amazing happenchance, Abbie looks so much like her, it was a lie we were all comfortable to tell.”

He gazed at Phryne with soft, loving eyes. She leaned into him and he pressed a kiss against her mouth.

“And thus, without any further scandal, we became a respectable Melbourne family,” Phryne laughed. “Well _almost_.”

“It’s the part of the story I never tell,” Dot replied. “I know one day you’ll explain everything to her. But she’ll know she was always loved.”

“That she will. Goodnight Dot,” Phryne said, hugging her tightly.

Dot watched as Phryne and Jack walked down her garden path. She watched as they joined hands and crossed the street. She watched them until the darkness swallowed the little family.

She sighed. Thiers was a love hard fought for but deeper than an ocean. Theirs was a love for the ages. A love that would last throughout time. A very big love.

She smiled and reflected that her love for Hugh was quite big enough for her. She’d leave the rest to Phryne.

She closed and locked the front door, and headed to bed, noting that the storm had well and truly passed.


End file.
